ESPE Abstracts

Background: The primary goal of GH treatment in GHD children and adolescents is to normalize height, in order to attain an adult height within the target height (TH) range.Aim: to investigate height improvement in GHD paediatric patients treated with GH in our Country.Subjects: 737 patients with isolated GHD (39.5% females) from 13 tertiary Centres for Paediatric Endocrine Care...

Background: Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is a rare condition caused by an inadequate production of glucocorticoids. Preliminary data in adults suggest that AI could be associated with an increased susceptibility to infections; moreover, AI patients are at risk to develop a severe course of infectious diseases and to experience a life-threatening adrenal crisis. The aim of our study is to evaluate the severity and the outcome of COVID-19 in pediatric AI patients ...

Aim: To develop a low cost formula as screening tool for identifying youths with overweight/obesity (OW/OB) at risk for impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).Methods and results: A retrospective observational study was performed in 1189 Caucasian youths with OW/OB aged 5-17 years, in whom information about family history for diabetes (FD), fasting glucose (FG), 2-hour glucose levels post-oral glucose tolerance test, alanine a...

Objectives: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) is the most common thyroid abnormality in Down Syndrome (DS) children (25-60%); its etiology remains still not completely clarified. Aim of this prospective multicenter study was to evaluate prevalence and natural course of autoimmune and non-autoimmune SH in a large cohort of DS children and adolescents.Methods: The study population included 101 DS patients with SH (TSH 5-...

Introduction: NR5A1 (nuclear receptor subfamily 5 group A member 1) is a transcriptional regulator of adrenal and gonadal development and function. Heterozygous and homozygous NR5A1 mutations have been described in 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD). The clinical, endocrine and genetic features of three 46,XY children from two unrelated families (A and B) with NR5A1 genetic variants are reported.P...

Background: Obesity during childhood has been demonstrated to exert profound and lasting effects on bone strength and fracture risk. Furthermore, obesity is characterized by chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, with an increase in the mediators of innate immunity. It has been found that skeletal homeostasis is influenced by immune cells. LIGHT (lymphotoxin-like inducible protein that competes with glycoprotein D for herpesvirus entry on T cells) is emerging among cytokin...

Background: OTX2 is expressed in the human brain and plays a key role in the eye development. OTX2 mutations are reported in patients with ano/microphtalmia, optic nerve or optic chiasm hypoplasia, ocular coloboma and retinal dystrophies, associated in some cases with brain or pituitary abnormalities.Objective and hypotheses: Most of OTX2 mutations are nonsense or frameshift, more rarely missense mutations occur.Method: We...

Background: A significant number of long-term complications are reported in childhood acute lymphatic leukemia (ALL) survivors, and among them metabolic syndrome (MetS).Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate the prevalence of features of MetS. In addition, we evaluated the presence of steatohepatitis which is described in association with MetS in otherwise healthy subjects.Method: We assessed waist circumference, triglycerides level...

The accumulation of adipose tissue, especially visceral fat, represents a risk factor for reduced bone mineral density and spontaneous fractures. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the complex relationship between adipose tissue and bone. Obesity is associated with the production of inflammatory cytokines both by adipocytes and immune cells which may stimulate bone resorption and reduce bone strength. Studies in vitro and in vivo have reported t...

Background: Low bone mineral density (BMD) has been found in up to 50% of adolescents and adults with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). High fracture risk has been described in adult PWS patients. However, the mechanism/s of low BMD in PWS have not been clarified. These patients also display high BMI-SDS that prompted us to evaluate the levels of LIGHTTNFSF14, a cytokine involved in pathological bone remodeling and obesity.Objecti...